Poul Schluter

Poul Schluter (3 April 1929-) was Prime Minister of Denmark from 10 September 1982 to 25 January 1993, succeeding Anker Jorgensen and preceding Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. A member of the Conservative People's Party, he was Denmark's first conservative prime minister since 1901.

Biography
Poul Schluter was born in Tonder, Jutland, Denmark in 1992, and he studied law at Aarhus and Copenhagen. A leading member of the youth movement of the Conservative People's Party (KF), he joined the Folketinget in 1964. In 1974, he became president of the KF, and in 1982 was the country's first conservative prime minister since 1901. Schluter was a vigorous proponent of European integration and NATO. However, his government had to accept seventeen defeats in Parliament on foreign policy. His determination to restructure the Danish economy led him to accept a compromise whereby he was enabled to pursue many of his economic reforms, while the opposition determined much of foreign policy. Through a reform of the country's extensive social security system, he managed to reduce public debt and inflation, but failed to stop a rise of the unemployment rate at over 10% in the early 1990s. He was forced to resign after it was revealed that his government had repatriated Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka without ensuring their safe conduct there. In 1994, he gained a triumphant victory in the elections to the European Parliament. He served as Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999.